Oakland Hosts First Legal Marijuana Open Air Fair in U.S.

By IBT Staff Reporter09/02/11 AT 5:21 PM

A burlap bag advertising California Sinsemilla marijuana is shown for sale in a shop in Oakland, California June 30, 2010. California, the U.S. state that first allowed sales of medicinal marijuana in 1996, may take away all restrictions on adult use of the drug in a November vote, giving local governments the option to regulate sales and growing of marijuana. Picture taken June 30, 2010. To match Special Report MARIJUANA/CALIFORNIA Photo: REUTERS

Cannabis was found on the four-year-old boy Photo: Reuters

Richard Lee, founder of Oaksterdam University, which provides training in the cannabis industry, looks over medical marijuana plants in a grow room in Oakland, Calif., June 30, 2010. Photo: REUTERS

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Oakland will be hosting International Cannabis & Hemp Expo, the first marijuana street fair that will take place in the country ever since medicinal marijuana was legalized more than 15 years ago.

The expo, which will be held in Downtown Oakland (14th street to Clay Street including Frank H. Ogawa Plaza), will start at noon on Saturday and end on Sunday.

Pot smokers who have a valid medical cannabis card are all invited to light up legally. The spot is in front of the City Hall, featuring speakers, music, booth and venders.

Only adults can enter inside the expo, whose ticket price starts at $20.

The purpose of this expo is the educate public about marijuana, hemp and Prop. Patients need to take their medicine when they need to, said Kim Cue, a Berkeley resident who is chief executive of the International Cannabis & Hemp Expo.

The most unusual attraction for this expo probably will be the “215 area,” which is the name refer to Proposition 215. Since 1996, the state ballots legalized personal use of medical marijuana and passed a measure to tax and regulate cannabis business in 2009.

Oakland needs to be the tourist destination for cannabis, said Salwa Ibrahim, who handles government relations for Oaksterdam University, which trains students for the industry. We felt like a street fair for the cannabis industry would help solidify that.